The Vice Presidential Debate – Who and Why?

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

WHNT News 19 -- If you have opened your eyes and ears at any point in 2016, you have seen or heard the names "Donald Trump" and "Hillary Clinton," and you know that they are both in the running to become the next President of the United States.

According to the most recent CNN/ORC poll, Clinton's debate performance last week helped her expand her lead over Trump among likely voters in the presidential election set for Nov. 8.

Tonight, though, is the one and only vice presidential debate. The Vice President of the United States is one of the most prestigious positions in politics, but it is also one of the least defined. The president and the vice president, together, ultimately decide what role the vice president will play. Tonight is the only chance this election's major party vice presidential candidates will have to explain why they and their running mate, can change the country for the better.

Mike Pence is the 50th governor of the state of Indiana. He considers himself a social conservative. He had originally endorsed Ted Cruz for president.

Trump said he chose the governor as his running mate to unify the Republican Party, but neither Trump nor Pence has spelled out how Pence would function in a Trump administration. He will have an opportunity to clarify that tonight.

Don't let Pence and Kaine's presence on the stage fool you. They are actually not even the main focus of tonight's debate.

Think of them more as stand-ins for their presidential running mates. As per any debate, the candidates may periodically engage in going over each other's track records, but will most likely focus on arguing why their running mate is the best choice for president. John Feehery, a Republican strategist who is not working for either campaign, said that Kaine is expected to take jabs at Trump's unreliability and explosive character, while Pence will press into the matter of Clinton not having the capability of changing the country the way that Trump can.

The vice presidential debate will be divided into nine segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.